Karunã: The Great Good Helper!

Karunā  is feeling the pain of other beings, either partially or completely;

Possible translations:
1: Pity not from above: “I am better”, but as if in the other being’s shoes…
2: Compassion is OK, but that is difficult to reach up to for many beings…
3: Fellow feeling, sympathy, empathy, understanding are all OK, but somewhat
missing these essential points:

A: It is an inability to see and accept other being’s suffering and distress!
B: It is a deep desire to make others feel free, glad, happy and peaceful!
C: It is extended to and pervaded over many beings simultaneously…

The proximate cause of Karunā = pity is noticing other being’s helplessness.
The immediate effect of Karunā = pity is evaporation of all evil cruelty!

Pity (Karunā ) is one of the four divine and infinite dwellings (Brahmavihāra) :
Karuna_is_Pity, Endless Pity, Space_Compassion, What_is_Wrong,
Safe_Medicine, Great_Compassion, Compassionate_Pity,
How_to_Cure_Cruelty_and_Revengefulness

The Great Helper!

Have a nice & noble day!

 
Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

What is the Definition of Energy?

The Blessed Buddha once said:
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability of Energy? Here, Bhikkhus, the Noble Disciple lives
with energy aroused for the elimination of all disadvantageous mental states & for
gaining a firm foundation in all advantageous states. He is determined, resolute in
all his efforts, not evading any good opportunity to train advantageous mental states.
This is called the ability of Energy.  Source: Samyutta Nikāya V 48

Without Energy, there is neither advantageous behaviour (action=kamma).
Without any advantageous behaviour (action), neither is there any good result..
No cause gives no effect! Therefore: Raise up and stir up your elevation!

For details on the Enthusiastic Ability of Energy see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Definition_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Arising_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Ability_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Origin_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Enthusiastic_is_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Power_of_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Ballanced_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Chief_Hero.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Energetic_Effort.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Avoiding_Effort.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Feeding_Energy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Energy_Viriya.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Dual_Energy.htm

Get Going!

Have a nice & noble day!

 
Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Calm (samatha) & Insight (vipassana):

There are two principal kinds of mental development:
1: Development of mental tranquillity and calm (samatha-bhāvanā)
culminating in the development of concentration (samādhi-bhāvanā)
And!
2: Development of insight (vipassanā-bhāvanā) culminating in the
development of understanding (paññā-bhāvanā).
Both qualities: Calm and Insight, are essential & crucial for release!
Tranquil Calm (samatha) is the pleasant, peaceful, yet lucid state of
a settled mind acquired as a preliminary to meditative absorption.
It blesses the meditator with 3 things: Happy life, happy rebirth, &
a mental purity suitable for gaining progressive penetrating insight!
Concentration is a necessary prerequisite for such cutting insight..
Why so? It removes distractions that veil the investigating vision!
Insight is that which leads to entrance of the 4 stages of Nobility..
Why so? It irreversibly removes gross & latent mental hindrances!
The term samādhi  literally means ~being firmly put evenly together
(sam + a+ dha) & is mental state focused on only one single object=
cittassaekaggatā, which literally means ~ one-pointedness of mind.
Any state of consciousness has a degree of mental concentration!
One may distinguish these four stages or levels of concentration:
1: Momentary or transient concentration (khanika-samādhi),
2: Preliminary or preparing concentration (parikamma-samādhi),
3: Access or approaching concentration (upacāra-samādhi),
4: Absorption or attainment concentration (appanā-samādhi).
Insight (vipassanā) is the penetrative understanding, gained by only
direct meditative experience of the inherent transience, misery, &
selflessness (anicca, dukkha, anattā) of all physical & mental states
of existence all included in these 5 clusters (khandha) of clinging:
form, feeling, perception, mental construction, and consciousness.
Bhāvanā  is derived from the causative form of the verbal root bhu,
bhavati = to be, to become, causing to be, making come into being,
the calling into existence of, the production of or development of.
When applied to Mental Training this simply means Meditation...

Simultaneous Calm and Insight! Photo: The Kawasakis

More on Insight (Vipassanā):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Highway_to_Nibbana.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_18_Principal_Insights.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Breathing_Calm_and_Insight.htm

More on Calm (Samatha):
Forest Bliss, Calm, Calm_and_Insight, Calm_Power, The_Tranquil_One,
Breathing_Calm_and_Insight, Silenced, Forest_Bliss2, Calmed... :-)

Calm and Insight!

Have a nice & noble day!

 
Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

State Buddhist spots to get facelift

By Santosh Andhale
Friday, Feb 15, 2013
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) is now pitching for Maharashtra as a Buddhist destination. They have identified 25 Buddhist spot across the state that have great significance in terms of religion and heritage.
The corporation has approached the Central tourism department to give them funds of Rs50 crore. An MTDC official claimed that the total tourist traffic at Buddhist destinations is around 2 crore per annum.
Besides Indians, China, Thailand, Japan, Korea and Cambodia nationals too visit these destinations. At present, Bihar has been working very hard to develop the Buddhist circuit. Every year, more than 6 lakh foreigners visit Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Rajgir and Kesaria.
“Our state tourism department has been working on various projects to boost tourism. Buddhist circuit is one of the area where we can woo foreign nationals. Bodh Gaya in Bihar is a famous Buddhist destination. In fact, there are several direct international flights from Japan and China to this place, ” said Jagdish Patil, Director, MTDC. Patil added, “We plan to make the places accessible, put up signages and provide basic amenities.”
The Buddhist circuit of Maharashtra comprises shrines in Mumbai, Thane, Pune Aurangabad, Raigad, Satara, Napgur and Nashik. Ajanta and Ellora caves are already classified as world heritage monuments. Nineteen destinations are ancient caves which have been classified as monuments. There are four historical places Diksha Bhoomi,Chaitya Bhoomi, Vipassana Pagoda and Buddha Vihar.

The 8 Aspects of Feeling should be Understood!

A certain Bhikkhu once asked the Blessed Buddha: Venerable Sir,1: What is feeling? 
2: What is the cause of feeling? 
3: What is the way to emergence of feeling? 
4: What is the ceasing of feeling? 
5: What is the way to cease feeling? 
6: What is the satisfaction in feeling? 
7: What is the danger in feeling? 
8: What is the escape from feeling?

The Blessed Buddha answered:
There are, Bhikkhu, three feelings:
1: The 3 feelings are pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neutral feeling.
2: Sense contact is the proximate cause of all feeling...
3: Craving is the way leading to the emergence of feeling...
4: The end of sense contact, ceases all feeling instantly...
5: This Noble Eightfold Way is the way to cease feeling...
6: The delight and joy of feeling: This is the satisfaction within feeling...
7: The danger in feeling is its transience, & inherent change into suffering.
8: The escape from feeling is the elimination of desire and lust for feeling.

Comment:
Running after pleasurable feeling like mad robots, beings come to pain &
death ever again... Wanting short-term pleasure one gains long-term pain!
This is an unnecessarily heavy price, when there actually is an alternative
of lasting happiness called Nibbāna. It is thus quite well worth the effort
to give up all emotional and sensorial addiction and obsession. Only then
can one ever be completely free, truly happy and dwell in peace :-) Yeah!

   

All mental states converges on Feeling (Vedanā):http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Indifference_Creates_Ignorance.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Three_Basic_Kinds_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Feeling_Causes_and_Effects.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_8_Aspects_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Bodily_and_Mental_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Detached_from_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Dependent_on_Contact.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Focusing_on_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Analysis_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_108_Feelings.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Emotional_Storm.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Latent_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Five_Feelings.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. Book IV [232-3]
section 36: On Feeling: Vedanā. A Certain Bhikkhu... 23.
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html

Feelings Dominate!

Have a nice & noble day!

 
Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

What are the 7 Fruits of the Abilities?

The Blessed Buddha once said:
Bhikkhus, there are these 5 abilities. What five?

1: The Ability of Faith.
2: The Ability of Energy.
3: The Ability of Awareness.
4: The Ability of Concentration.
5: The Ability of Understanding.

When these 5 abilities have been developed & cultivated, then
seven supreme fruits and excellent benefits may be expected!
What are these seven fruits and advantageous benefits?
1: One attains final knowledge early in this very life. If not then;
2: One attains final knowledge at the time of death. If not then;
3: One having cut the 5 lower chains attains Nibbāna in between;

4: One attains Nibbāna upon landing in the pure abodes. If not then;

5: One attains Nibbāna in the pure abodes without effort. If not then;

6: One attains Nibbāna in the pure abodes with some effort. If not then;
7: One is bound Upstream, heading towards the Akanittha realm.
When, Bhikkhus, these five mental abilities have been developed and
cultivated, these seven sublime fruits and benefits may be expected.

On the 5 Mental Abilities and the pure abodes:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Five_Abilities.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/s/suddhaavaasaa.htm

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya.
Book [V:237] section 48: The Abilities: 66.

The 7 Fruits!

Have a nice & noble day!

 
Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

What is a Good Buddhist Disciple?

The Sakyan Mahānāma  once asked the Blessed Buddha:
Venerable Sir, What is a Lay Disciple?
By having taken refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha, one is a Lay Disciple!

Venerable Sir, What is a Pure Disciple?
By avoiding all killing, all stealing, all sexual abuse, lying, all drinking & drugging,
which causes neglect, one becomes a Pure Disciple!

Venerable Sir, What is a Faithful Disciple?
By placing faith in the perfect enlightenment of theTathāgata thus:
Worthy, honourable and perfectly self-enlightened is the Buddha! ... teacher and
guide of gods and humans, exalted, & awakened ...  one is a Faithful Disciple!

Venerable Sir, What is a Generous Disciple?Living mentally devoid of stinginess, liberal, open-handed, delighting in donation,
devoted to charity, enjoying all giving and sharing, one is a Generous Disciple!
 

Venerable Sir, What is a Disciple who Understands?

One who understands the cause of arising & ceasing, which is Noble, decisive,
& which enables eradication of Suffering is a wise Disciple who Understands!

More on the Buddhist Lay Disciple (Upāsaka):http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/u_v/upaasaka.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/The_Good_Disciple.htm

The Buddha Gotama's first five disciples (Pañcavaggiyā)

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya. [V:395]
Section 55 on Stream-Entry: Sotāpattisamyutta. Thread 37: Mahānāma.

The Good Lay Disciple!

Have a nice & noble day!

 
Friendship is the Greatest! Bhikkhu Samāhita _/\_ ]
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

DHAMMAM 4th issue released

Buddhist malayalam Monthly "DHAMMAM" 4th issue released by Dr.Rajananda Moorthi at Trissur on January 3rd 2013